Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the people in the emergency services today who are going out and risking their lives. They are doing so to save lives and to keep our communities safe. On 4 January 2014, the west coast of Clare, including my parish and Lahinch, was ravaged by the sea. Damage to both public and private property amounted to millions of euro, but thankfully we rebuilt. We have one of the best rock armoury systems available, after millions of euro of Government investment following the damage of 2014. As a country, we need to spend billions on flood defences. We are an island nation. We are subjected to major climatic change. We have seen many storms in recent times. In the past decade we have seen more storms and severe weather situations than in the previous two decades. We need to invest in our coastal communities, which do so much for us from a tourism, sporting and a quality of life perspective, and ensure the type of investment made in Lahinch is matched for them.I call on videographers and social media people who want to get the best photos over the next 24 hours, in addition to those who want to be adventurous and go out and risk their lives without heeding the red warning, to realise this is serious. Lives will be lost. The emergency services in this country have enough to be doing without going out to rescue clowns who believe they are braver than the storm, the sea and the weather. I call on all those types of people, who have been very prevalent in our recent weather experiences, not to go out and to respect the people who are risking their lives to keep our communities safe.